A review of pieces, places, and people following antiques from origin to market to home.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Individuality in Design

A few months ago, Apartment Therapy featured the SoHo loft of Michele Varian and Brad Roberts. Michele, a world traveler and collector, describes the space as an old school rustic NYC loft meets eccentric English manor. The space has interesting arrangements of pieces that play with light and air as it reaches the inner rooms of the loft.

The organic home metabolized over 10 years, and Michele offers the following advice, "Only buy things that you LOVE and then figure out how to work them into your space. That way you are always surrounded by things that make you happy and your home will be a reflection of you and not look like anyone else's." This emphasis on less mass market appeal thus creates individuality in design.

The kitchen is primarily hand built.

A desk found at a flea market is used as a counter and breakfast bar.

View towards the kitchen and rear light source.

Glass bottles hanging over the stove create visual separation from the kitchen.Note the pendant lamp that is mixed in and allows the bottles to glow at night!

Michele made these counters by gluing and clamping together strips of wood.She then placed the counters on wood shelves, that are found throughout the house, and are an old stained IKEA product.

The window seat is made from leftover pieces of wood from Michele's store renovation.

The wood burning stove heats the front of the house in winter.

A drying rack is used as a dividing screen.

Why cover up great walls with huge paintings when you can use old frames to group smaller pieces together?

A repurposed wood mantel is wall mounted to serve as a dining table bench.

The exposed electrical boxes are trimmed with wood and wallpaper to blend in.

The Architectural Antique Review

About me

With over 10 years experience in the design and construction industry, Spencer Howard has completed $150 million in new construction and renovation projects ranging from residential to institutional facilities.